Nasiri’d-Din Shah

186 O King of the Earth!  Hearken unto the call of this Vassal:  Verily, I am a Servant Who hath believed in God and in His signs, and have sacrificed Myself in His path.  Unto this bear witness the woes which now beset Me, woes the like of which no man hath ever before sustained.  My Lord, the All-Knowing, testifieth to the truth of My words.  I have summoned the people unto none save God, thy Lord and the Lord of the worlds, and have endured for love of Him such afflictions as the eye of creation hath never beheld.  To this testify those whom the veils of human fancy have not deterred from turning unto the Most Sublime Vision, and, beyond them, He with Whom is the knowledge of all things in the preserved Tablet.

187 Whensoever the clouds of tribulation have rained down the darts of affliction in the path of God, the Lord of all names, I have hastened to meet them, as every fair-minded and discerning soul shall attest.  How many the nights which found the beasts of the field resting in their lairs, and the birds of the air lying in their nests, while this Youth languished in chains and fetters with none to aid or succour Him!

188 Call Thou to mind God’s mercy unto Thee; how, when Thou wert imprisoned with a number of other souls, He delivered Thee and aided Thee with the hosts of the seen and the unseen, until the King sent Thee to ’Iraq after We had disclosed unto him that Thou wert not of the sowers of sedition.  Those who follow their corrupt desires and lay aside the fear of God are indeed in grievous error.  They that spread disorder in the land, shed the blood of men, and wrongfully consume the substance of others—­We, verily, are clear of them, and We beseech God not to associate Us with them, whether in this world or in the world to come, unless they should repent unto Him.  He, verily, is of those who show mercy the most merciful.

189 Whoso turneth towards God must distinguish himself from others by his every deed, and follow that which hath been enjoined upon him in the Book.  Thus hath it been decreed in a lucid Tablet.  Those, however, who cast behind their backs the commandments of God, and follow the prompting of their own desires, are, verily, in grievous error.

190 O King!  I adjure thee by thy Lord, the All-Merciful, to look upon thy servants with the glances of the eye of thy favour, and to treat them with justice, that God may treat thee with mercy.  Potent is thy Lord to do as He pleaseth.  The world, with all its abasement and glory, shall pass away, and the kingdom will remain unto God, the Most Exalted, the All-Knowing.

191 Say:  He hath kindled the lamp of utterance, and feedeth it with the oil of wisdom and understanding.  Too high is thy Lord, the All-Merciful, for aught in the universe to resist His Faith.  He revealeth what He pleaseth through the power of His sovereign might, and protecteth it with a host of His well-favoured angels.  He is supreme over His servants and exerciseth undisputed dominion over His creation.  He, verily, is the All-Knowing, the All-Wise.